Why privatisation is essential for steel and power companies – Murray-Bruce

In the face of plethora of challenges rocking the steel companies in Nigeria, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatisation, Ben Murray-Bruce, has said the Senate was not out to destabilise or halt the privatisation process.

He made this known, recently, when he led a team of the Senate Committee on Privatisation on a visit to Dana Steel Limited.

According to him, the privatisation of companies, particularly those in the power sector was not a knee jack policy, noting that the steps need to be taken to give the economy of Nigeria a good shape and make it more viable and robust.

In his words: “Why should we want the privatisation to be reversed. With the privatisation of companies such as Delta Steel company, Ajaokuta Steel Company, the federal government gets money to spend on other needs such as roads, health, etc. Our interest is to get jobs for more Nigerians through privatisation.”

He added that the committee decided to pay visit to the privatised companies with a view to assessing their level of progress in line with their constitutional role of performing oversight functions.

He gave the assurance that the Committee would ensure transparency in its activities in the sense that the reports of all their findings would be made public, so that people would get reliable snapshot of how the privatisation policy of government was faring.